Dining out Whole30: Green Seed Vegan

If you were in line behind an incredibly needy person at a vegan restaurant last weekend, apologies.

That person I'm referring to was me of course.

Last weekend, I went to the zoo ON THE MOST HUMID DAY EVER with my friend Meredith and her baby/my godson/the most beautiful curly-haired, pinchable-cheeked cherub ever, Lincoln. After that we had lunch at Green Seed Vegan, because in researching vegetarian Whole30-friendly places, this seemed to be a good option. But we'll get to that in a minute.

First, would you like to see a picture of a sleeping baby in a fedora?

I knew you would.

Ugh, couldn't you just die from the cuteness? Doesn't this make you want to procreate so badly?!?! (Jon is reading this right now and running for the hills.)

Okay so back to business.

After looking at the menu, I decided to order the garden fresh panini, but in a collard wrap, with a mini salad on the side. Meredith had a pb&p panini with a berry smoothie.

The garden fresh contains eggplant, zucchini, roasted red peppers, and spinach, and is topped with balsamic glaze and "cheese." I asked for it without cheese, and added avocado and green chili.

This is where we feel really really sorry for the employee working behind the counter because I had A MILLION questions.

"Is the balsamic glaze made up of anything besides balsamic vinegar?"

"I'm not sure, let me ask the chef."

"No, it's just made up of balsamic vinegar."

"Instead of balsamic vinaigrette on the mini salad, can I just please have a side of oil and vinegar?"

"We don't have just plain vinegar."

"Oh. Well how do you make the balsamic glaze?"

"I'm not sure, let me ask the chef."

"The balsamic glaze is already made, but I assure you it only has balsamic vinegar."

"Oh. So... no sugar added or anything?"

"GET OUT OF MY RESTAURANT!"

Just kidding, I didn't get kicked out of the restaurant. The people there were very nice and incredibly patient with Needy Nelly over here. But I really wouldn't have blamed them if they had kicked me out!

And after all that, the collard wrap was...not that great. The collard greens-to-inside-filling ratio was so off balance that I felt like I was just chewing leaves. There were hardly any vegetables or avocado at all. Also, there was a pesto sauce on it (which was not listed on the menu), which started a whole new round of questions I didn't want to ask...

It was pretty exhausting.

But there's a silver lining folks!

(besides the baby and the orangutan of course.)

I'm talking about this:

Because I was not even the slightest bit full at all from my rabbit lunch of leaves, and I knew I needed to be if I were to survive that night's college football tailgate and game, I ordered their almond joi sweet blend. The Whole30 folks advice against drinking your foods, and would prefer there to be chewing involved, but desperate times call for desperate measures my friends.

And it was WONDERFUL! Not quite a smoothie, but certainly not a juice, this "sweet blend" was made up of raw almond butter, banana, and dates. It was creamy and slightly sweet, which was offset by the smooth almond butter, and it was absolutely fantastic. I loved loved LOVED this drink, and I will 100% hands down return to have it again!

Did I like my "panini"? No. But I have a sneaking suspicion that if I'd had it on actual bread with the vegan cheese I might be singing a different tune. And the almond joi was such a game changer, that I ended up being very glad I went to Green Seed Vegan. (But of course after the fact I was worried sick that there may have been added ingredients in the almond butter, because I didn't think about asking at the time...)

Verdict: Eating out while doing a vegetarian Whole30 may not be worth the anxiety. I'll continue to seek out spots in Houston that have compliant options, but it is definitely a pain in the neck! The people at Green Seed Vegan were incredibly kind and accommodating though, which I very much appreciated.

Fortunately, playing all day with cute babies is Whole30 compliant (don't worry, I checked).

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